Nyos volcanic lake (Northwest, Cameroon)

Nyos volcanic lake, Camerun.

Volcano: Nyos (see Nyos at the Smithsonian Institution website in a new tab)
Type: Lake
Description: Lake Nyos is an active crater lake that formed by an eruption about 5 centuries ago. Nyos vlcanic lake, located 95km to the southeast of Nyos, contains large amounts of CO2 dissolved at depth. The origin of CO2 within Lake Nyos is due to CO2 that rises from volcanic activity. This CO2 is then dissolved into groundwaters and transferred to the lake resulting in the slow saturation of the hypolimnion.


Point of contact for this site:
M. Kusakabe , kusakabe@misasa.okayama-u.ac.jp (a Institute for Study of the Earth’s Interior, Okayama University)

Number of measurements: 2
Measurement date (d/m/y) Added by Added on
Nyos_010120021/1/2002 Emanuela Bagnato Nov. 15, 2016
Nyos_010120091/1/2009 Emanuela Bagnato Nov. 15, 2016


Bibliographic references for this site

Kusakabe, M., Tanyileke, G.Z., McCord, S.A., and Schladow, S.G., 2008,Evolution of CO2 in Lakes Monoun and Nyos, Cameroon, before and during controlled degassing., Geochemical Journal, vol.42, pp. 93-118, DOI: xx


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